There are two main objectives to this research program. One of these is to develop in quantitative detail the structural factors which influence the spectral properties of polypeptide chains in statistical conformation and to study the relationship between the results from such measurements as circular dichroism, high resolution proton and carbon-13 NMR, and hydrodynamic ones. Principle focus, in the past, has been on the pyrrolidine-type polymers where the trans-cis isomerization can be easily accomplished and quantitatively determined and its influence on molecular conformation assessed. This work will now be extended to the types of polypeptides which cannot isomerize but which show similar spectral changes with added salt. We plan to utilize the theory previously developed to the optical properties of these systems. The other main problem is studying the mechanism by which axially oriented macromolecular systems form from dilute solution. The main work so far has been in establishing the molecular conditions under which gel formation intervenes. We now plan to study the kinetics of gelation in detail as a method of getting at the mechanism.